1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of data acquisition, and more particularly to a method (and system) of acquiring information from user communications while allowing the user to control the information acquired.
2. Background Description
Data acquisition is a very challenging problem to social software. It is, in general, difficult to acquire valuable information. For instance, on average, an employee spends 40% of their time writing emails and instant messaging during work. The information in the e-mails and instant messages is valuable data, which can be used to infer an employee's knowledge.
In order to acquire useful communication information, previous systems work on acquiring data through a corporate e-mail server or an instant message server. Such data acquisition is typically conducted without the users' knowledge. Thus, the acquisition introduces various security and privacy concerns from users and becomes a major reason that hinders the use of valuable communication data for corporate use.